Debate tensions rise over health care

By Bill Barrow and Steve Peoples The Associated Press

Friday

Sep 13, 2019 at 7:08 AMSep 13, 2019 at 7:11 AM

HOUSTON — The three leading Democratic presidential candidates clashed over health care, immigration and President Barack Obama's legacy on Thursday in a fierce debate that pitted an aggressive Joe Biden against liberal rivals Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.

"This is America," said Biden, his party's early front-runner, before calling Sanders "a socialist." He later declared, "I stand with Barack Obama all eight years, good, bad and indifferent."

The top White House hopefuls faced off for the first time alongside seven other candidates who are under increasing pressure to break out of the pack. The moderate Biden stood at center stage with his leading progressive rivals, Sanders and Warren, on each side.

Biden wasted no time in tying himself to former President Obama and his namesake health care system. Warren, who favors a "Medicare for All" concept, also bowed to Obama.

"We all owe a huge debt to President Obama," Warren said of his health care plan. "Now the question is how best can we improve on it."

But Sanders said his Medicare for All plan would cost less than Biden's updates to Obamacare.

Biden slapped back at both Sanders and Warren, contending they haven't yet explained how they would pay for Medicare for All.

But Julian Castro, who served as Obama's housing chief, kept the pressure on the Democratic front-runner.

The 44-year-old Texan appeared to touch on concerns about Biden's age when he accused the former vice president of forgetting a detail about his own health care plan. At 76, Biden would be the oldest president ever elected to a first term.

"Are you forgetting what you said two minutes ago?" Castro asked. "I can't believe that you said two minutes ago that you have to buy in and now you're forgetting that."

At about that point, several candidates called for civility and stressed areas of agreement among the Democrats. Said Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar: "A house divided cannot stand."

But all of the candidates assailed President Donald Trump without mercy.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker called Trump a racist. Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke called him a white supremacist. And Kamala Harris, a California senator, said Trump's hateful social media messages provided "the ammunition" for recent mass shootings.

"President Trump, you have spent the last 2 1/2 years full time trying to sow hate and division among us, and that's why we've gotten nothing done," Harris said.

The ABC News debate was the first limited to one night after several candidates dropped out and others failed to meet new qualification standards. Held on the campus of historically black Texas Southern University, the debate included women, people of color and a gay man, a striking contrast to the Republicans. It unfolded in a rapidly changing state that Democrats hope to eventually bring into their column.

Biden's remarkably steady lead in the crowded contest has been built on the idea that the former vice president is best suited to defeat Trump next year — a contention based on ideology, experience and, perhaps, gender. Sanders and Warren, meanwhile, have repeatedly criticized Biden's measured approach, at least indirectly, by arguing that only bold action on key issues like health care, the economy and climate change can build the coalition needed to win in 2020.

Understandably, the debate also dealt with gun violence in a state shaken by a mass shooting last month that left 22 people dead and two dozen more wounded in El Paso, Texas.

In an emotional moment, O'Rourke said there weren't enough ambulances at times to take all the wounded to the hospital in his hometown.

O'Rourke described in vivid detail how bullets shot by semi-automatic rifles are designed to "shred everything inside your body."

He said that if a gun is meant to "kill people on a battlefield ... hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15s, your AK-47s." While O'Rourke supports mandatory gun buybacks, other candidates believe such a program should be voluntary.

Klobuchar noted that all the candidates on stage favor a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. She favors a voluntary buyback program on assault weapons.

Several of O'Rourke's fellow hopefuls praised him for the support he showed for residents of El Paso.

Harris said, "Beto, God love you for standing so courageously in the face of that tragedy."

Biden said he defeated the National Rifle Association by leading the 25-year-old crime bill's ban on assault weapons.

In other debate highlights:

• Buttigieg said Trump "clearly has no strategy" in his trade war with China.

The mayor and other candidates were asked about the tariffs Trump has imposed on China. The country has retaliated with tariffs that have hit U.S. farmers and some other industries hard.

Trump has scoffed at Buttigieg's candidacy, often saying he'd like to see the 37-year-old make a deal with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Buttigieg said, "I'd like to see him make a deal with Xi Jinping." He added, "Wasn't that supposed to happen in, like, April?"

Klobuchar said Trump is treating farmers and workers "like poker chips in one of his bankrupt casinos."

Warren said U.S. trade policy has "been broken for decades" and that the heft of the American market should be used in negotiating with other countries in ways that are fair to workers, farms and small businesses.

• Several of the Democrats said they would loosen restrictions on immigration put into place under the Trump administration.

Warren said she would expand pathways to citizenship, blaming current problems on the United States' withdrawal of aid to Central America. She called it "a crisis that Donald Trump has created and hopes to profit from politically."

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang noted his status as the son of immigrants and called immigration "positive for our economic and social dynamism" and pledged to return immigration levels to those of the Obama administration.

• Biden dismissed questions about the Obama administration's record of deportations by touting the former Democratic president's effort to open doors to immigrants.

Instead of answering whether the deportations were a mistake, Biden noted Obama's support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and a path to citizenship for people in the country illegally.

Castro again pounced on Biden, accusing him of standing by Obama when it suits him but sidestepping the administration's blemishes.

Castro said, "He wants to take credit for Obama's work but doesn't want to answer any questions."

• Yang announced plans to give away $1,000 a month to 10 families over the next year as part of his effort to prove the efficacy of his universal basic-income campaign proposal.

Yang said he will randomly choose 10 families to receive $12,000 over the next year that will come from his campaign funds. If elected president, Yang has proposed what he calls a "Freedom Dividend," which would give every citizen 18 or older $1,000 each month, something Yang says would address poverty and help Americans cover basic needs.

He also said that his Freedom Dividend would help lower-income families support their children's educational needs while alleviating teachers already compensating for support some students aren't getting at home.

Regarding education, several candidates, including Buttigieg, Harris and Warren, advocated for raising teacher salaries — something Booker noted that "we actually did it" as mayor of Newark, New Jersey.

Both Warren and Sanders promoted student-debt-cancellation plans. Harris, a graduate of a historically black university or college, noted her proposal to put $2 billion toward the institutions' teacher-training programs.

• Buttigieg, the only combat veteran on the stage, reminded the audience that many new military inductees were newborns when the U.S. was attacked 18 years ago.

He said he will seek an authorization for the use of military force with a built-in three-year sunset that Congress would be required to renew.

Buttigieg said, "We have got to put an end to endless war."

Buttigieg also says that Trump treats "troops as props, or worse, tools for his own enrichment."

• Biden said "nobody should be in jail" for nonviolent crimes or for drug problems. The former VP touted his criminal justice reform plan, which would exonerate drug possession offenders and put drug rehabilitation ahead of jail time for such offenders.

Biden is also touting his role in the 1994 crime bill, often used as a strike against him by his rivals, for its introduction of drug courts aimed specifically at minor drug offenses.

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